In today's episode we discuss how to tell a multi part mystery. What is a multi part mystery? How do you give players clues? How do you move players along? What if the players get stuck? What makes for good building blocks? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please l...
Aug 25, 2023•34 min•Ep. 161
In today's episode we discuss how to end a game. What makes a good ending to a game? What should you do to set up a good ending? Why is a good ending so important? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your...
Aug 16, 2023•33 min•Ep. 160
In today's episode we discuss promoting the next generation of players. Why is it important to bring up a new generation of players? How do you cater to new players? What are some of the challenges you face GMing for newcomers to the game? How can it improve your GM style? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at h...
Aug 03, 2023•35 min•Ep. 159
In today's episode we discuss adding flavor text to your games. What is flavor text? How should I incorporate it? When should I use it? When should I avoid it? How much is too much? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating whe...
Jul 20, 2023•41 min•Ep. 158
In today's episode we discuss making effective encounter maps. What is an encounter map? What makes for good design of one? How much detail should I include? What do the players need to know about? How can I improv details on the encounter map? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/Level...
Jul 12, 2023•33 min•Ep. 157
In today's episode we discuss making travel fun in games. How do I make travel fun? Should I avoid it all together? What should I avoid if having my players travel? What do I need to do to make this play style engaing? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave ...
Jul 01, 2023•29 min•Ep. 156
In today's episode we discuss writing your game with a partner. What is co-writing? How do I write with a partner effectively? Can this partner be a player in my game? What are the disadvantages of writing with someone else? What are the ground rules? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.co...
Jun 15, 2023•40 min•Ep. 155
In today's episode we discuss players that steal the spotlight. How bad is it when a player steals the spotlight? Can this be a good thing? How can you address the issue? How does it hurt or help your table? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review...
Jun 08, 2023•31 min•Ep. 154
In today's episode we discuss the D&D Movie. How was the movie? Was it any good? What lessons can we learn from the movie? Was it true to D&D? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcast. Lea...
May 25, 2023•38 min•Ep. 153
In today's episode we discuss storytelling on the fly. How do you storytell a game out of no where? What tricks can you use to make it a good experience? How do you make the experience a fun one? How can you buy yourself time to improve the game experience? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.faceb...
May 10, 2023•39 min•Ep. 152
In today's episode we discuss house rules. What are house rules? Why should I use house rules? What are different types of house rules? Can house rules be used across multiple games? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating wh...
Apr 28, 2023•50 min•Ep. 151
In today's episode we celebrate our 150th episode by taking a look at the history of Tabletop RPGs through the decades. Where did Tabletop RPGs come from? How did they evolve over the years? What are the trends we will see in the future? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourG...
Apr 20, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 150
In today's episode we discuss how to make the most of short game sessions. What length constitues a short game session? What game types fit best in a short game session? How do I get my players to feel involved in a short game session? How do I keep the players focused in a short game session? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook an...
Apr 13, 2023•36 min•Ep. 149
In today's episode we discuss the popular live play Critical Role. What is Critical Role? What are the benefits of live play? How does the show help the hobby? In what ways does the show hurt the hobby? What can you learn from live plays? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYour...
Apr 05, 2023•53 min•Ep. 148
In today's episode we discuss if AI will steal your job as a GM. Am I obsolete? How can I effectively use AI as a GM? What are it's limitations? What are the different applications of AI in gaming? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five...
Mar 24, 2023•33 min•Ep. 147
Josh had a bit of fun this week and gave Chat GPT some prompts about our podcast. This is the result. Enjoy this episode this week as next week we'll discuss how you can use a tool like Chat GPT to help build and inspire ideas in your games. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get your podcas...
Mar 16, 2023•10 min
In today's episode we discuss getting your players to take better notes. Why don't your players take notes? How do I get my players to take notes? Why should they take notes? What information should we just give them? Are there any rewards I can give for taking good notes? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at h...
Mar 08, 2023•40 min•Ep. 146
In today's episode we discuss creating maps for your games. What are the different types of maps? What makes a good map? What should you focus on when creating maps? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating wherever you get yo...
Mar 01, 2023•36 min•Ep. 145
In today's episode we discuss monetization of D&D. What is the history of the D&D license? What is happening with D&D in the future? Is my current edition of D&D staying unchanged? What does this mean for the future of playing D&D? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.co...
Feb 16, 2023•39 min•Ep. 144
In today's episode we discuss improving mysteries. What are some different types of mysteries we can tell? How do I improve on a mystery? What elements make a great mystery? What are some good guidelines in telling a mystery? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please...
Feb 08, 2023•45 min•Ep. 143
In today's episode we discuss food, music, and art in games. How do I use these elements in game? What does this do for my game? How can I tell better stories with these elements? How can I offer insight to my players with these tools? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGam...
Feb 01, 2023•33 min•Ep. 142
In today's episode we discuss suspending your disbelief in games. Why should I suspend my disbelief? What do the players gain? What does the GM gain? How can I improve impossible situations to increase enjoyment in the game? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please ...
Jan 26, 2023•43 min•Ep. 141
In today's episode we discuss avoiding accounting and math in your games. What is the purpose of the numbers? What stuff can you ignore? Why would you want to avoid the numbers? When do you need the numbers? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review...
Jan 19, 2023•38 min•Ep. 140
In today's episode we discuss Taking ideas from existing media. What should I borrow from? What should I avoid? What if my players recognize the source? Does it make sense to adapt ideas? Are there any concepts that don't work without leaning in? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/Lev...
Jan 11, 2023•33 min•Ep. 139
In today's episode we discuss building encounters. What types of encounters are there? How do I make the encounters meaningful? What things should I consider in making encounters? What about the environment? How do I progress my players through encounters? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebo...
Dec 29, 2022•42 min•Ep. 138
In today's episode we discuss various virtual table tops. What are the differences between them? What are the pros and cons? How do I choose one? Can I really go wrong with one or the other? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star r...
Dec 21, 2022•45 min•Ep. 137
In today's episode we welcome Josh as the new cohost and discuss learning new systems. What are the challenges with learning new systems? How should I approach learning a new system? Why would I want to try a new system? What makes a game successful in any system? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://ww...
Dec 15, 2022•30 min•Ep. 136
In today's episode I discuss combat length action problems. What are the problems with combat lengths? How do you address these problems? Can you fix some other actions in combat to fix the action length problem. I answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five star rating...
Dec 07, 2022•17 min•Ep. 135
In today's episode we discuss what to do when you wipe the party. Did I have to wipe the party? Can I save my players in bad situations? What if my players are acting foolish? Should I fudge rolls? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Please leave us a review or a five...
Nov 23, 2022•37 min•Ep. 134
Next Episode will be dropping 11/23 In today's episode we discuss the rule of cool. What is the rule of cool? How should I use the rule? What are the benefits? What are the downsides? How to I rain in players trying to abuse it? We give you our thoughts and answer all these questions and more in today's episode. Leave us an email for feedback, questions, or thoughts at levelupyourgamingpodcast@gmail.com or Follow us on Facebook and engage with us at https://www.facebook.com/LevelUpYourGaming Ple...
Nov 09, 2022•30 min•Ep. 133
